


Nice

by Stella_by_Starlight (MissMarpleMadness)



Series: The House of Broken Things and Other Poems [19]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Current Events, News Media, Passive-aggression, Poetry, Privilege, Rich Privilege, Sarcasm, Selfishness, White Privilege, comfort zones, ignorance is bliss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-29
Updated: 2019-10-29
Packaged: 2021-01-06 08:49:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 248
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21223862
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissMarpleMadness/pseuds/Stella_by_Starlight
Summary: A poem inspired by an interaction I had with a customer.





	Nice

Your day is primed

Not a care on your mind

Light as a feather

Sweater weather

You turn on the dial

For just a little while

So you can sing along

To your favorite pop song

All you hear is a mess

Of unpleasantness 

You’d rather not know

Turn off the radio

Must be nice

It's not your problem

Don't have to think about things

Or how to solve them

Must be nice

Keep your head in the clouds

If the stay's strong

The one you’re standing on

You won't fall down

You shut the door

Can’t watch the news anymore

You feel like a stranger

So much anger

You feel so alone

Out of your comfort zone

You feel at a crossroad

You take your high road

Must be nice

It's not your problem

Don't have to think about things

Or how to solve them

Must be nice

Keep your head in the clouds

If the stay's strong

The one you’re standing on

You won't fall down

It really isn’t fair

You wear your heart in your prayers

But you didn’t break it

So why should you pay for it?

You’re gonna let it go

Worry tomorrow

Feather pillows on your bed

Your high horse is Thoroughbred

Must be nice

It's not your problem

Don't have to think about things

Or how to solve them

Must be nice

Keep your head in the clouds

If the stay's strong

The one you’re standing on

You won't fall down

**Author's Note:**

> This work was inspired by one of my regular customers.  
Background: Basically, my work has been a little hectic in the recent months. My union and my employers were unable to come to an agreement for over a year. To make a long story short, we voted to authorize a strike, so the union announced a boycott to the local news media as a legally required first step before they can call a strike. The boycott was all over ever local news and social media. It was almost impossible to miss. The boycott lasted a week and was extremely successful. Though we didn't get everything we wanted, we got a great new contract with significant raises (especially for the people who were already making the least.)  
A couple days after the boycott ends, this regular comes in. She's a perfectly lovely lady, and is definitely well-off. Anyway, she's asking how things are and whatnot. The boycott is brought up and she is *shocked!*! She had no idea there had been a boycott. I was like, "It was all over the news?" and then she responded, "Oh, I don't watch the news anymore. Everything is so negative. It's such a mood killer."  
And that just struck me as so incredibly self-sheltered and selfish. Like, seriously? All those "downer" stories - from BLM and police violence, to corporate exploitation of workers, to the realities of poverty, to the long lasting effects of systematic racism, to ICE raids and dreamers and asylum seekers, to the Me Too movement and rape culture, to the Hong Kong protests, to the return of anti-Semitism, to ISIS and the turmoil in the Middle East, to everything that's fucked up in Turkey, Hungary, Belarus, and Russia, to the corruption and destruction in this country's (USA) highest office - is everyday reality for millions of people. And you're going to stick your fingers in your ears and go "La la la, I can't hear you" because these negative things don't personally affect *you* and so you can? Are you fucking kidding me?  
*takes some calming breaths*  
Anyway, I've been thinking about that exchange the past couple of weeks, and tonight I was just sort of hit with the lines "Must be nice/It's not your problem". And from there this poem came together in about an hour, which is pretty incredible for me as it usually takes me two/three months to complete and finalize a poem (and that's if I don't take literal years to do so.)


End file.
